This week marks six months since Zimbabwe President Emmerson Mnangagwa took office, after Robert Mugabe gave in to military pressure and resigned.

During the weekend, the 75-year-old Mnangagwa told supporters that since he took over, a lot had improved.

He says Zimbabwe’s annual foreign direct investment had been around $400 or 500 million, but for the past five months it has gone to more than $15 billion committed to investment in the country, with international companies and countries such as Canada, South Africa, China, Britain and the United States coming to invest in power generation and water.

Last Tuesday, the British gave $100 million to aid toward trying to eliminate Zimbabwe’s cash crisis, Mnangagwa said.

The country’s methane gas reserves have improved as well, he added.

“After about three and half years, we should be able to produce eight million liters of fuel per day,” Mnangagwa said. “The country only consumes five million [liters] per day — three million surplus per day.  Zimbabwe will prosper, it is going to develop. Zimbabwe will shine not only in SADC [Southern African Development Community], but also in Africa because Zimbabwe is in good hands. Our political party ZANU-PF is a revolutionary party, it caters for the interests of the people.”

Chido Masasai, an unemployed former media student, says Zimbabwe’s people have yet to see the money the president is talking about. She says there is still a shortage of cash, and the black market continues to operate.

What she does see is a greater expression of political views — a significant change from the Mugabe era when authorities regularly harassed the president’s critics and opponents.

“But in terms of freedom of expression, a lot more people are liberal with their views and opinions. You find that there are a lot of political parties that have come into the fore,” Masasai said.

Harare-based economist John Robertson says it is too early for Zimbabwe’s economy to fully recover from Mugabe’s populist policies, which drove away most foreign investment.

“The economy is still in great difficulty, but remember that the difficulties we face were built slowly into the system by 38 years of very badly chosen economic policies, and I think that the media is largely responsible in increasing the expectations of the population beyond what was reasonably possible within a short period of time,” he said.

Robertson added that Mnangagwa might make major policy changes, such as compensating white farmers for land that was confiscated during the Mugabe years, and ensuring that black farmers can get bank loans instead of depending on government handouts.

“I think this is why the president is waiting for the elections,” he said. “Behind him he would have increased amounts of courage to make changes that will prove unpopular to the people who thought they achieved what they were expecting.”

The president is expected to announce a date for the elections soon, which could place in July or August.  
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South Sudan peace talks hit a new roadblock Wednesday, as opposition groups rejected a proposed peace deal and the government said it only partially agreed with the proposal.

The sides met in Addis Ababa this week in a renewed attempt to end South Sudan’s civil war, which has driven more than four million people from their homes and left an estimated seven million in need of humanitarian aid.

Opposition groups, including the SPLM-IO and the South Sudan Opposition Alliance, say the proposal from the East African development bloc, IGAD, does not address the root causes of the South Sudan conflict. They also argue it gives the current government, run by President Salva Kiir, far more positions in a future transitional government.

“Last time we were asked to submit our proposal, and when we look at this [draft] agreement it does not reflect the proposal that we had,” said SPLM-IO spokesman Mabior Garang. “In fact it looks more like an agreement on surrender because it gives everything to the government.”

Kwaje Lasu, spokesperson for the South Sudan Opposition Alliance — a coalition of nine opposition groups — says his group rejects the proposed agreement because it has no provisions for transforming South Sudan into a democratic country.

“We believe that this IGAD proposal is the position of the government of South Sudan whereby they are trying to maintain the status quo,” Lasu said.

South Sudan Information Minister Michael Makuei says he also does not fully agree with the proposed deal, because some of its provisions do not take into consideration the government’s position on key issues of leadership, governance and security.

But he says he agrees with aspects of the proposal in terms of sharing responsibility.

The civil war erupted in December 2013 with clashes between supporters of President Kiir and backers of Vice President Riek Machar.

Ismail Wais, IGAD’s Special Envoy to South Sudan, says the proposed draft is a deal that identifies some common ground for all of the parties. “I further encourage the South Sudanese parties and stakeholders to consider the IGAD bridging proposal, which reflects a considered effort to identify common ground between the different negotiating positions,” he said.

The second phase of the talks, called the High Level Revitalization Forum, ended Wednesday. Wais said IGAD will invite the warring parties to Addis for more talks. No date for a resumption in talks has been set.

 
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Ethiopia’s state-run telecoms monopoly has agreed to allow some local firms to provide internet services through its infrastructure, a move seen as spurring competition and expanding the data market, officials said.

Ethio Telecom has more than 16 million subscribers of internet services in the country of over 100 million people.

It generated over 27.7 billion birr ($1 billion) in revenues in the first nine months of 2017/18, 70 percent of which was earned from mobile services and 18 percent from internet.

“Our objective of signing VISP [virtual internet service provider] agreements is to increase subscriptions,” said Abdurahim Ahmed, the company’s head of communications.

“There may be price reductions. There will be competition among themselves — that is the core idea,” he told Reuters.

Abdurahim said eight firms have signed up to provide the services, which include different internet packages. Foreign companies were not allowed to provide services, he said.

Ethiopia is one of few African countries to still have a state monopoly in telecoms. The companies that signed agreements with Ethio Telecom have either just been established to sign up for this new business or they were previously doing other business.

Addis Ababa has ruled out liberalizing the telecoms sector, saying the revenue it generates was being spent on infrastructure projects such as railways.

Abdurahim said the decision to allow private companies to sell services was not a precursor to fully liberalizing the sector.

“This has nothing to do with that. They will be providing downstream services,” he said, referring to data sent from an existing network service provider.

While Ethio Telecom has consistently increased annual revenue, vast parts of the country — including the capital — still suffer from occasionally patchy mobile reception and internet service.

The low internet penetration and poor quality of service in Ethiopia is often a drag on businesses and is especially seen as an obstacle to technology startups such as those that have thrived in neighboring Kenya.

Ethiopia maintains a tight grip on several other industries, with foreign firms also barred from the banking and retail sectors.
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Zimbabwe’s parliamentary committee on mines on Wednesday is expected to press former President Robert Mugabe to give evidence about the disappearance of diamond revenues amounting to $15 billion during his rule.

The mines committee, led by independent legislator Temba Mliswa, said it would conduct the hearing at Mugabe’s Harare mansion, commonly known as the Blue Roof.

Mliswa said the move follows previous failed attempts to summon the former president to parliament to discuss the missing diamond revenues.

Neither Mugabe nor presidential spokesman George Charamba was available for comment.

Nongovernmental organizations and political observers say Mugabe is expected to blame Zimbabwe’s military for plundering diamonds from fields in Chiyadzwa, Manicaland province.

Farayi Maguwu, executive director at the Center for Natural Resource Governance and a doctoral student at the University of Kwazulu Natal Center for Civil Society, told VOA Zimbabwe that Mugabe was also expected to attack President Emmerson Mnangagwa; his deputy, retired General Constantino Chiwenga; and others who are now in charge. 
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South Sudan’s warring parties are expected to sign a proposal drafted by Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) mediators that addresses many of the major sticking points that have prevented a peace deal.

Delegates from the parties spent five days in intense negotiations in the Ethiopian capital, but had been unable to reach a consensus, which prompted the IGAD proposal.

Government and opposition representatives, activists and observers Tuesday signed a document that recommits them to talks about governance issues, including implementing 35 percent affirmative action for women at all levels of government, acknowledging the need for all guns to fall silent, and respecting the cessation of hostilities agreement signed last December.

Church leaders had been leading this round of talks in Addis Ababa. Justine Badi, the archbishop of the Anglican Church of South Sudan, emerged from talks Tuesday to say the message to the delegates is simple. 

“South Sudan Council of Churches urges the parties to cooperate with one another in the spirit of compromise and with IGAD for the sake of the millions of suffering South Sudanese,” Badi told South Sudan in Focus.

Mabior Garang, who chairs the Communication Committee of the SPLM-In Opposition, told VOA, “We can be hopeful in the little progress we have made.”

The failure of the parties to reach a deal after several months of negotiations has been seen this week as a major disappointment by many South Sudanese and international observers. 

Clement Janda, a representative of South Sudanese refugees from Uganda, said the warring parties refuse to put the people first. 

“The issue of those of us suffering in the refugee camps and those in the IDP [internally displaced people] camps were never an issue in this forum. People are talking about dividing positions, but they are not talking about the suffering of the millions of people in the camps,” Janda said.

Jon Pen, a civil society activist delegate at the talks, said the lack of pressure from regional and international observers is one reason the parties have failed to sign a deal. He also said there are too many delegates at the talks.

“The parties are too many and if there are too many the concessions will take too long to reach. Some of them, I can even describe them [as] nominal, they are not really active on [the] ground,” Pen told South Sudan in Focus.

Pen also thinks the principals of the warring parties — President Salva Kiir and rebel leader Riek Machar — need to be at the talks to tackle some of the toughest issues.

IGAD proposal

When the parties failed to reach a deal Monday when the talks were scheduled to end, IGAD leaders presented delegates with a draft proposal on security and governance issues.

The document, dubbed a “bridging proposal,” follows shuttle diplomacy efforts by IGAD leaders over the last 11 months.

Under the IGAD proposal, there would be one president and three vice presidents. It also proposed 42 ministers and 15 deputy ministers. The position of president would be designated to the Transitional Government of National Unity. The first vice president would be designated to the SPLM-IO led by Machar, and the second and third vice presidents would be designated to the transitional government and other political entities, respectively.

The plan also proposes power-sharing ratios in the national government of 55 percent for the transitional government, 25 percent for the SPLM-IO Machar faction, and 20 percent for other political entities.

The transitional parliament would be expanded to 440 lawmakers from the current 400. IGAD has proposed various security arrangements for government and rebel forces.

Edmond Yakani, an activist delegate at the talks, said the parties have been given a chance to study the document “and tomorrow come and give a proposal.”

He said there may end up being a shift in percentages in a final power-sharing agreement.

Yakani advised citizens back home to “pray hard. At least tomorrow we may have peace prevail.”
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Preparations are under way for a mass Ebola vaccination campaign in the Democratic Republic of Congo as the Ministry of Health and international aid agencies hold a second day of inoculations in northwestern Equateur Province. The latest World Health Organization estimates report 51 cases of Ebola, including 27 deaths.

The World Health Organization said 33 people, most of them front-line health care workers, were vaccinated against Ebola on Monday in Mbandaka, a city of more than one million people. It said a few high-risk people from the community also were vaccinated during the first day of the campaign.

More than 7,500 doses of the Ebola vaccine have been shipped to the Democratic Republic of Congo. WHO spokesman Tarik Jasarevic told VOA he expects the campaign to accelerate and ultimately reach thousands of people.

He said a lot of work has to be done before this complex operation can hit its stride. For example, he said transporting the vaccines and storing them in freezers in affected areas is a major challenge.

“You need to have vaccination teams to be trained so they know exactly what they need to do, how to get a consent, how to define eligibility of a contact and contacts of contacts,” he added. “So, all of that has to be done in a very, very short period of time under very difficult conditions.”

Jasarevic said a team from Doctors Without Borders will begin vaccinations later in the week in Bikoro, the remote rural town in northwestern Equateur Province, where the deadly Ebola virus was discovered two weeks ago.

The Ebola vaccine is not licensed, but a major trial in 2015 in Guinea showed it gave a high rate of protection against the disease. A so-called ring vaccination strategy is being applied. It relies on tracing all the contacts and extended contacts of a recently confirmed case as soon as possible. More than 600 contacts have been identified.
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